no savior.

no bullshit

He stumbles back from the door, landing in one of my chairs, placing me on top of him."Stop... I'm at work."

"I want you," his already deep voice comes out as a low, hungry, growl, "Now."

Suddenly there's a knock on the door and we stop. Fuck me...

I climb off of his lap and fix myself before opening my door.

"Hey, Charlie," I force a smile, "Come on in." I turn to my not-a-boyfriend, "Vin was just leaving."

He flashes a devilish smile and stands, "See you are home babe," he kisses my forehead on his way out and I exhale a long held breath as he goes.

I take a seat at my desk, "How are you?"

She looks between me and the door, grinning.

"Shut up," I laugh, "I'm not the one under scrutiny."

She continues laughing and I'm surprised at how joyous and robust it is. Considering the owner of the laugh never speaks, it's amazing how full of life her laugh is. The more time I spent with Charlie, the more I learned about her. Even without her talking, she was telling me things.

"I have something for you," I pull out my gift for her, "I know you're not ready to talk. That's fine. But I got this for you."

I hand her the wrapped package. She opens it, peeling away piece by piece of the package, revealing a text to speech device. She looks at me, her crystal blue eyes turning dark. "I understand if this is too big of a step for you but I want you to have it anyways. Just in case."

She sits it to the side and motions for me to hand her her notebook. I do, along with a pencil and she starts to sketch away.

Layne's POV

I wake up Friday earlier than usual. It's about time I become accustomed to waking up at a more adult time.

I head out into the kitchen and start a pot of coffee, realizing that I'm actually the first person up for once. When the coffee's done I take a seat in the living room and cut on the TV, turning it down low, as to not wake the boys.  Halfway into an old George Lopez episode I hear a throat clear. I turn to see Dil, his honey brown curls tossed from his sleep.

"Morning, Brother," I exchange the first words we've exchanged that week. After my hangover, he refused to speak to me, and since I ain't no bitch, I did the same. If he didn't want to talk to me, I didn't need to talk to him.

"Sister," he takes a seat in one of the arm chairs, still in his pj's. "It's been awhile."

I bit back a smart comment, in hopes of maintaining the piece. "I have a date tonight."

"Mira quit. Just so you know," he cuts me off.

"You think that has something to do with me?" I chuckle.

"Does it?" he counters. I mean it does... But I don't like his tone.

"Are you implying that I specifically went behind your back and fucked the maid after you asked us to stop?" I tease, "Does that sound like me?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," he scoffs, "God I don't know how I handle you."

He stands to leave. "Have a nice day at work, Brother!" I call after him. He leaves wordlessly and I continue watching my show.

"Here," a fifty appears by my head and I turn to see Dru there, "I'll literally pay you to stop being such a bitch to my boyfriend."

"Your wish," I take the bribe and smile at him, "Pleasure doing business with you."

I head back into my room, looking around it. With Mira gone, somebody is going to have picking up after me. Might as well be me.

I spend the after noon tidying up and studying for my driver's test. I didn't think that I'd have too much terrible taking the test again since driving is a muscle memory, but I wanted to be prepared for any opposition Dil could think of to try and stop me.

I hate that he wants to stop me. I hate that I feel like I'm under suspicion for trying to do something as simple as live my life. I hate that my best ally right now is my brother's boyfriend and I don't even like him.

I stretch out in bed, grabbing my notebook and going over it in preparation for my date tonight. Is it cheating to read a tip book about my date? Is she cheating because she has a full memory and I don't?

Is this even a date?

I open up to a passage titled Everything About Her and read it over and over again.

    She snores a little when she's tired--- which is most of the time because she doesn't sleep. When she does, she wakes up she moans a little and its the sexiest thing ever. Her favorite color is black. Her favorite sport is swimming. She hates anything that cares about her. She talks in her sleep sometimes. Most of it is complaints and insults. Also she wants to kiss me. I just don't think she knows it yet.

"Knock knock," I look up and see Dru, smiling as usual, "How was your day?"

"Confined," I place my notebook back into its safe place in my dresser, "How was yours?"

"Good. We were thinking about going out for dinner tonight?"

"Can't," I sit up, "I have plans with a friend."

"A friend?" he gives me a skeptical look, "You have friends now?"

I flash him the bribe money from early, "Yeah. Fifty of them."

"Wow," he scoffs, "Have fun then."

He leaves and I start getting ready. I shower, and change into ripped jeans and a navy long sleeve crop top. I'm pulling on a pair of all black Van's when there's a knock on my door.

I turn to see Dil, stepping back into the ring for round two, "Yes?"

"So you're going out tonight?" he asks.

"Obviously."

"You look nice," I can tell the compliment is forced, but at least he's trying.

"Thanks," I say in obligations more than anything else.

"Mind telling me where you're going?" he prompts, "Maybe with who you're going?"

"I'm not a little kid, Dillion. I'm entitled to my privacy," I respond.

His jaw clenches in irritation, but he only nods and backs out of the room. There's a knock at the door and I hurry to grab my things and get to the door before anyone else.

"Hey," I smile at the sight of her, then force myself to tone it down. You don't even actually know her. Calm down. 

"Ready?" her voice sounds even better none that I'm not ten stops pass fucked up. It's warm and smooth, like dark coffee.

"Yep," I step out into the hallway, "Lead the way."

I follow her down the hall and out into the parking lot, all the time sneaking glances at her body. I'm a few inches shorter than her, which makes my strides shorter, and I use this as an excuse to lag behind her. Her thickness is emphasized by jeans that almost appear painted on. I can't help but stare at it, and then feel guilty at my hoe ways once again attempting to rise to the surface.

Bad Layne. Stop it.

I her my steps, falling in line with her. "You like what you see?" She calls me out and rightfully so. I feel a blush creep up my neck, but refuse to let her see me fazed. I shoot her a flirtatious smirk, "Yes ma'am." I pause, "A lot."

She looks away from me, indicating her own embarrassment. She bites her lip, which I think is out of nervousness, but is still sexy nonetheless.

We reach her car, which turns out to be a two person pick-up. She opens her door and climbs in, skipping mine. I open the door for myself and climb in. Right. It's not a date.